


Back to You

by sleeplessink



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, considering that's the whole premise of the fic, vague(ish) mention of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 23:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21144734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeplessink/pseuds/sleeplessink
Summary: "You don't even know who I am.""But that's the thing. I do, don't I?"ORWhenever Landon dies, he momentarily finds himself in Malivore. (Post Season 1. AU-ish.)





	Back to You

He can’t see anything.

For a few blinking seconds, he thinks his eyes are closed, but he soon realizes that everything around him is just plunged in deep, deep darkness.

"Landon?"

He turns around, and his eyes fall upon a girl with auburn hair. It doesn’t make sense, that he can see her when everything around them is emptiness, but that’s not what makes him frown.

"Do I know you?" The words fall off his mouth, but the answer appears to him without her even acknowledging his question.

_(Yes. Yes. Yes.) _

"Are you really here?" she asks. There's a tiredness in her voice that feels like a slash to the heart. He swallows.

"Uh. I think so? Where am I, exactly?"

At that, the girl blanches.

"You can't— You shouldn't _be_ here.”

Before he can question it, the distress in her voice acts like a magnet, pulling him a step closer, his hand reaching for her arm.

"Hey, it's okay," he shakes his head with a concerned look, and it's stupid, because he doesn't actually know it's going to be okay. He doesn't even know what's going on, really. So like most times he's faced with incomprehension and uncertainty, he falls back on self-deprecation.

“I promise I'm not _that_ terrible to be around.”

Her laugh is breathy, like it hasn't been used in a while. It still becomes his new favourite sound.

Landon's halfway through his grin when a warm glow envelops them. Before either of them has the time to ask what's happening, the light becomes blinding and engulfs them whole.

☀

His grey eyes shoot open in the middle of the woods. The night sky peers down at him through tree branches and Landon stands up, the smell of smoke clinging to his clothes, the ashes sticking between his fingers.

That should be the crazy part, the one where he doesn't stay dead. Instead, what shakes him to his core is the outlines of a person burned inside his mind, and the unshakable feeling that he _knows_ them.

But whenever he tries to focus on the person's features, they fade away like smoke.

Landon takes a deep breath, settles into the feeling of air filling up his lungs.

He still walks away with the same hollowness in his chest that's been following him for weeks.

☀

Landon finds himself in the same spot in the woods three days later, a watch on his wrist, his notebook tucked behind a nearby tree, and another weapon in his pocket.

If he's going to call it research, he might as well commit to it.

☀

She's sitting down when he finds her, her chin resting on her knees.

"You're the girl from last time," Landon states, coming to the realization that he somehow remembers the previous time he was here.

"You're not real," she answers with a monotone voice, without lifting her eyes.

"I... think I'm supposed to be offended by that statement."

The slightest of smiles finds her lips.

"You sound like him, though. Landon would say something like that."

"How do you know who I am?" he asks, but it's a _how_ and not a _do you_. Or maybe what he's really asking is '_why do I know you_?'

Her blue eyes pierce him, all traces of softness gone, with only stubborn defiance remaining. After a few long seconds, she sighs and stands up, looking upwards. When he tries to see what she's looking at, he only finds the same void that surrounds them.

"How are you doing this?" she asks whoever it is he cannot see. "I didn't know 'illusions' fell in Malivore's list of skills and abilities," she bites.

"Is that where we are?" There's a hint of panic in his voice. "But I didn't..." He trails off, frowning as he tries to remember how he arrived here.

"You're not real," she repeats, turning to him. "Leave me alone."

Okay, so maybe he's starting to be a little offended.

"Why do you keep saying that? For all I know, _you're_ not real. I don't even know who you are." It doesn't feel true, but it's also not _false_, so he feels justified saying it.

All she does is roll her eyes.

"Name one thing the real Landon would know."

"I —" His mind draws a blank, because how does one even answer that kind of question on the spot? He shakes his head. "Why would I even tell you? What do _you_ know about me?"

He thinks he sees her eyes waver, but it’s a steel gaze that meets his. When she speaks, her voice is stubborn and certain, unmoving.

"Your love of sci-fi comes from a foster brother you never saw again. Once you only ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for an entire month because you had to make your own lunches and that's all there was. The biggest one of your scars is the one on your shoulder. It’s the one that your teacher noticed and made you change foster homes.” She clenches her jaw. "The world should have treated you better."

They hold each other's gazes for a few seconds before she sighs and sits back on the ground, hugging her knees. His grey eyes keep staring, his breathing the only sound coming from him.

She knows him. She _knows_ him. And yet, somehow, there isn't an ounce of surprise about it. He's felt known from the moment his eyes fell on her.

"I pour milk before my cereal,” he speaks quietly.

The girl frowns.

“The first song I ever learned on the guitar was from Taylor Swift. I... was afraid of the dark until I was eleven. There's this ancient-looking bracelet on my nightstand that can glow, and I can't remember where it's from, but I like to turn it on before I go to sleep."

He doesn't have the time to feel embarrassed about the secrets he's just spilled to a stranger who doesn't feel like one. Something in her melts away at his words, and he can see everything sharp and biting fade away, leaving only a shaky expression. She swallows and slowly gets back up again, taking a hesitant step towards him.

"Landon?" she whispers.

"Yeah?"

She inhales a shaky breath. "I still can't believe you pour milk before your cereal."

"It makes the cereal less soggy!" he protests.

The sounds of their laughters intertwine, and despite everything that's wrong with the situation — the void that surrounds them, the missing memories, the fact that one of them is dead and the other forgotten — Landon can't help but think that something about this feels _right_.

A beat passes as their laughters die down, where her smile slowly morphs into a frown.

"Landon. How are you _here_?"

"So," he breathes out. He had managed to gather his thoughts since he'd arrived here. "I think I died. I think this is where I come, when I—"

A light interrupts him, quickly surrounding them, and soon becomes everything they see.

☀

Before he opens his eyes, he swims in a shade of blue, in that feeling he's been tip-toeing on the border of for the last few weeks. The one he doesn't want to leave. Like the seconds between dreaming and awake, where you're half-conscious and just an inch away from reality.

When his eyes finally open, the first thing he notices is that the sky is the wrong colour. There's another blue that's supposed to be here, and that's not it.

He sits up, wipes the ashes on his face, and comes to realize that thought lacked a worrisome amount of sense.

Still, he can't shake the feeling that something's not the way it's supposed to be.

☀

It turns into actual research, somewhere along the way. He has a table and a graph going, and everything. "Science" feels like an odd reason why he would keep putting himself in death's way, but Landon figures it's a fairly plausible cover in the event where he would get caught.

He wouldn't even know what the truth is, really. There's just something that keeps pulling at him to go back. Something that feels right.

☀

His feet find the ground he cannot see once again, and it takes a millisecond for his brain to adjust to the absence of matter around him.

She's sitting down, legs crossed this time, her back to him. (Landon figures standing up all the time must be ridiculously tiring. He'd probably remain seated if it were him, too.)

“There’s someone… Dr Saltzman says someone we know fell into Malivore. It’s you, isn’t it?”

“You’re back," she says before she even turns to him.

Her voice sounds hoarse, and he wonders how often she gets to speak in here. He lets himself sit next to her.

“I knew you, before you ended up here, didn’t I?”

Her blue eyes meets his and she nods once, slowly.

“I have these flashes when I look at you. Are those... memories?”

“What do you see?”

“The school docks. A motel room. The town square. You.” A beat passes. “Well, not you, exactly. Just… the _feeling_ of you, with me, there. Does that makes sense?”

She nods again, a sad smile on her lips. Silence falls back upon them, and Landon wrestles with the feelings jumping around his chest.

“Are you in danger?” She interrupts his train of thoughts. “Does someone want you dead?”

“I... No? Why do you ask?"

"Why do you keep coming back?"

He frowns, forcing his brain to remember. “I’m searching for something. The extend of my powers.” He notices the relief that falls upon her features.

"And… you, I think.”

He doesn't understand why those last words ring so true.

"You don't even know who I am."

"But that's the thing. I do, don't I?"

It’s the feeling that grips him every time he sets foot in here. His hand raises to gently put a strand of hair behind her ear. The movement is so terribly familiar, a muted ache thuds in his chest.

“You were important to me, before I forgot.”

“Yeah,” she breathes out, ever-slightly leaning into his touch.

He can hear his heart beating at the way she reacts to his movements, and he wonders if she can, too. It's so silent all around them, he wouldn't be surprised if she did.

"Hope," he can't help the word from falling off his lips.

Her eyes widen.

"How did you—"

"—Why can't I stop thinking about this word when I look at you?"

Her face falls, and she moves away from him. Landon winces at the shift, wondering what it is that he said wrong. He's suddenly hyper aware of the

space between them, of the silence filled with unknowns that weighs against his skin instead.

Her answer comes out as a weak mumble.

"That's my name."

His heart is torn between breaking at her tone and soaring at this new discovery.

_Hope. Hope. Hope._

"I'm sorry."

She takes a deep breath and shrugs, a smile plastered on her lips.

"Don't be. It's not your fault you don't remember."

The fact that it's true doesn't bring him any comfort. His hand reaches for her and hesitates mid-air. Before he can make a decision, the light comes back, filling their visions and swallowing them whole.

☀

When he comes out of the water, it hurts. Not physically, but like something was ripped away from him again. Landon grabs the dock ladder as his throat tightens.

He doesn't understand why so much of him wants to go back to being dead.

☀

She's laying down, this time. He bends down and finds a place next to her to do the same.

"I never remember this place when I wake up. Just that there's something I forgot."

Her body shifts to face him, and stays terribly still.

"I wish I could remember you," Landon picks up. "Even if it has to be only in here."

She smiles at him sadly, but doesn’t provide an answer. His heart clenches.

"I have questions," he states, and the load of them swirl around his head.

_How did you end up here? _

_How can I get you out? _

_Can you tell me everything about you?_

_Why does being with you make me feel so whole? _

Before his brain can settle on one, his mouth tumbles out: "How did we meet?"

She blinks at him, her expression brittle. He wishes his hands could do something, hold her to make sure nothing will break. But Hope takes a breath, and a solid smile finds its way on her lips. A steady certainty that she's stronger than he can imagine builds in his chest, and it feels more like a reminder than a hunch.

It doesn't stop him from wanting to hold her, though.

"You used to work at the Mystic Grill."

"That was almost three years ago," he frowns. Had he really known her that long?

"It was. You left, after that. But you came back." She pauses, hesitant, before letting her gaze drop to the ground. "I guess we found our way back to each other."

Landon holds his breath, his heart thudding. It's only when she clears her throat that he remembers to exhale.

"I came in after a rough day. You teased me about my milkshake order, and then apologized about it," she looks back up to him and a glint shimmers in her eyes.

He scratches the back of his neck, sheepish — that _does_ sound like something he would do.

"You were nice to me. Asked me if I was okay." Hope gives him a soft smile, before turning her eyes away.

He thinks of that for a moment, scrummages through his brain in search of the right memory.

"What was your milkshake order?" he frowns suddenly, his thoughts skirting on a borderline somewhere in his mind.

"Peanut Butter Blast—" She begins.

"—Whipped cream at the bottom." He completes, and their eyes meet.

For a moment, that's all there is. Blue eyes meeting grey ones, a catching of breaths, and the feeling of being found.

But something in Hope’s gaze breaks, and she is the first one who turns away.

He swallows and blinks his way back to earth — or, well, whatever dimension Malivore counts as. Landon pulls himself up to a sitting position, and remains silent until she does the same.

"It hurts you, when I'm here," he speaks quietly.

"Why do you say that?"

"I can see it. There are things I say that hurt you."

She remains silent.

"Would it be better if I stopped coming?" he insists.

"You literally _die_ to come here."

"It's not like it's a permanent thing," he shrugs.

He doesn't tell her he's figured out the longer it takes for him to die, the longer the time he spends here. He doesn't tell her about the feeling of water filling his lungs, about how drowning is now his method of choice. He just tells her: "I always come back."

There still isn't an answer.

"I can... I can stop coming, if you want. If it does more harm than good. I can test other things, not to mention Josie hates it every time I die—"

"Josie?" She interrupts him.

"Oh, yeah. She's, um, my friend."

"Friend?" She raises an eyebrow, and a blush creeps onto his cheeks.

"Uh, well. Maybe a little more." He's not sure why he feels so guilty letting her know. He clears his throat. "Do you know her?"

Her entire expression closes up, and he can't read a single thing off her face. All she does is nod.

"Oh. Okay. Well, she doesn't like it when I die either, so if it doesn't help, me being here. Just... let me know, okay? I'll stop coming. Or, well, dying."

She doesn't answer, still, and Landon frowns as he tries to understand why there are so many things inside of him that don't feel right.

He doesn't have the time to figure it out. The light is back, and he barely catches a glimpse of the sudden panic in Hope's eyes.

"Please don't g—"

The glow swallows her voice away.

☀

His breath heaves as his lungs try to get used to having air in them again. Landon climbs to the docks and lets himself roll on his back, and for a moment all his brain can think is that he shouldn't be here, that this isn't right, that he has to go back.

As the oxygen clears his mind, he pulls himself up to a sitting position, and tries to understand what just happened, why he was ready to jump back in the lake only a minute ago.

His brain conjures up blurry images of a smile, and blue eyes, and a strand of hair tucked behind an ear. He thinks of milkshakes, a bus stop and a set of paint, and a headache starts growing at the back of his head.

His jaw clenches as frustration grows in his chest.

He's going figure this out, he promises himself. He has to.

☀

“I loved you,” he blurts out as soon as his feet find the ground and his eyes spot her silhouette. It’s been staring at him in the face for too long now, and he needs to say it.

Hope turns slowly to face him, eyeing him carefully.

“I know," she says, and his brain really shouldn't be going to Star Wars right now, but frankly, it's already there.

"I said it first, though," she adds with a small smile, and he's pretty sure his brain short-circuits.

His mouth falls open. "We were..."

"Yeah. We were."

"Why did it end?"

She looks at him, face suddenly unreadable, and eyes so, so blue. His heart rate starts picking up, and the thought crosses his mind: why would he have ever let her go?

"There were things we couldn't control," she finally speaks, and her eyes fall to the ground. "Sometimes you have to make the hard call."

"You broke up with me, didn't you?"

She frowns questioningly.

"You're _way_ out of my league," he provides.

It makes her laugh, and he grins like an dumbstruck fool. God, no wonder he loved her. He wanted to make her laugh for the rest of his life.

"Didn't I fight for you?" He feels like he would have. Even here, right now, in the midst of oblivion and scattered memories, everything in him didn't want to let her go.

"You didn't have the time to."

He sucks in a breath at the insinuations. That there wasn't a doubt that he would have. That she got stuck in Malivore before he could. That he was still in love with her when he lost her.

No wonder his heart beat so fast whenever she smiled.

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

The words come out with unflinching assurance. And he's not even sure how he's going to do it, but there isn't a doubt he'll do everything he can to do so.

"I think I've almost figured it out, actually."

He blinks at her as the words register in his mind.

"You mean you were working on this the whole time?" She shrugs, and he continues, "Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you.”

"You were already helping me."'

He frowns.

"You have no idea what it was like, before you came here," her voice is calm, but here's a haunting look in her eyes. "I think you're the only thing that's kept me sane." The smile on her lips tries to lighten the statement, but the words have an aching echo to them.

He swallows, his throat tight, before breaking into a goofy salute. "Glad to be of service," he tells her, and she laughs.

The sound makes everything inside of him feel airy and light.

"I can't wait to remember you," the words spill out, the joy in them unconstrained.

“Me too,” she replies, her eyes hazy but her smile bright.

A beat passes, and suddenly she's crossing the space between them to hug him. His body responds immediately, as if it knows, moving so she finds the right crook of his neck, encircling her small frame with his arms.

And it feels so, so right.

"I'll see you soon, Hope,” he mumbles into her hair.

"Soon," she promises.

This time, the light doesn't cut anything. It almost feels like it comes from within them, and slowly wraps them around its glow.

☀

He opens his eyes.

The sky is starting to become lighter, at the edge of its sunrise. Landon dusts off the ashes from his arms, and they feel warmer than usual.

For the first time in a very long time, his heart feels almost at rest.

He's not sure what changed, exactly.

_Hope_, something whispers in the back of his mind. He nods to himself as he gets back to his feet, his footing firm.

Yeah. That sounds right. It feels like he got his hope back.

It feels like everything is going to be okay.

“Soon,” he whispers into the woods.

And it sounds like a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago, before S2 premiered; parts of it feel odd now that episodes are out, but they had already been written, so 🤷🏻♀️ (Oh and I may or may not have thought about writing a Hope POV version of this fic; would that be redundant, or would you guys read that? 🤔) Let me know what you think, if that strikes your fancy ✌️
> 
> Also ! I made a curiouscat in case any of y’all wanted to talk about Handon or Legacies or life? Not sure how that works quite yet, but I’ll be over @sleeplessink on there too (https://curiouscat.me/sleeplessink) if you want to chat 😌


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